Birth of a Legend, or Creation of a Monster?
by Spinjitzugirl6310
Summary: Slight AU. Bruce Banner knew that he wasn't entirely normal. Nothing dangerous seemed to come from his mutated DNA, he wasn't worried about getting married, or having a daughter. But the accident prevented normal life. He has become a danger. Even with his wife gone forever and his daughter kept at arm's reach, it is inevitable that he can't hide from his past forever.
1. Chapter 1

When Dr. Bruce Banner finally got back in the States from South America, Betty Ross found him.

It wasn't long before they were married. It also wasn't long before Betty told Bruce that she was expecting.

Now, until then their lives had been pretty mediocre. Bruce had been happy and grateful that Betty had married him; At the back of his mind he had always feared getting a child. His slightly mutated DNA was genetic. Their child would have it too.

Betty asked if he wanted the child aborted.

This was a question that he had been pondering.

But still, it was murder, wasn't it? That thing growing in his wife's belly was a human baby.

Besides, what were the odds that the child would get around Gamma Radiation, the thing that would trigger any odd reactions from either of them? Finally, he decided to keep it.

He told Betty so about a week in, and she agreed.

"I'd feel terrible if we did abort it," She admitted. "I've wanted a child."

Now, I'd tell you the backup story in detail of Bruce Banner, if this story was about him.

But this story is about his child, and growing up with these conditions.

"What should we name it?" Betty asked. Bruce sighed and put his book down.

"I don't know," he answered truthfully. "We don't know whether it's going to be a boy or a girl yet."

"Well, if it's a boy do you want to name it Bruce?"

"I was thinking Robert sounded better, but alright."

"What about if it's a girl?" Betty asked. Bruce thought for a moment before answering.

"Maybe Joanne? Jo…anna? Or…Betty?"

"No…how about Jordan?"

"Jordan Banner," Bruce tested the sound of the name. "Doesn't sound too bad!"

"No, not really," Betty smiled. Bruce placed a hand on her belly and smiled too.

Over the next few months, they changed the name a bit. Brenna Jordan Banner sounded a bit better. Bruce did joke about how the B's in the family were unavoidable if this kept up.

Their lives went on as normally as they could, although Bruce walked with a noticeable spring in his step. His work continued, and he was becoming quite an esteemed genius in the science world.

Finally the day came.

Bruce was in the room with her, grimacing with her, wincing at her grunts. Finally, it was over. Bruce and Betty held their daughter at last. Bruce noticed a few green veins, stared, then shook his head. This child was going to have a normal life.

She had to.

The first year was uneventful, and they both loved their daughter very much. The second year however…..that's when the "accident" happened.

Bruce could never look back on that day without pain. The day that a simple mistake cost his wife his life. Locked in the lab, he was helpless as the gamma radiation flooded the room, and killed his wife.

He should have been killed too. It was only because of the fact that his father had been playing around with stuff he shouldn't have before Bruce was conceived that he was alive. Or his daughter.

Oh, yes. His daughter survived too, and Bruce thanked the green in both their veins later. He had to play mother and father to their child. Brenna was growing, and Bruce took care of her well, but he was still empty. There was a hole in his heart where Betty had been, and Brenna was helping to fill it.

When she was five, he hulked out for the first time. When he came to, at normal size, he was horrified. He took her to a friend in New York, and left again.

He told himself that he'd hurt Brenna if he kept it up. So he hid. Back in South America, he tried to forget Betty, Brenna, and The Other Guy.

It didn't work as well as he would have hoped.


	2. Chapter 2

Little Brenna Banner remembered her father though. When she was seven, she got a hold of her father's address in South America, and sent a letter, (Short and poorly spelled as it was.)

_Dear Daddy,_

_Hello Daddy. How ar yu? I miss yu, Daddy. Aunt Jennifer iz very nice. I am a big gurl now and I lost mi front teeth._

_-Brenna_

When the letter reached Bruce, he cried. He thought he'd never see or hear from his daughter again. He realized that that would hurt him more than receiving her letters, and so he sat down to reply.

_Dear Brenna,_

_I am mostly well, thank you. How are you?_

_I miss you too, sweetheart. I know Aunt Jennifer is very nice, that is why I had her take care of you. I know you are a big girl! Congratulations on losing your two front teeth. I'm doing pretty good work down here, and one day I might be up for a visit.  
-Your loving father, Bruce Banner_

Brenna squealed and hugged the letter after reading it. She and her aunt Jennifer set up a box of letters that Bruce sent, and in South America, Bruce set up a box of letters that Brenna sent.

So they communicated over the years. When Brenna was twelve, Bruce came up for his first visit.

Bruce hugged her and kissed the top of her head and cried. Brenna hugged him and cried too. Jennifer watched and smiled. They ate dinner and talked. Brenna told stories, Bruce listened and laughed. Bruce told stories and Brenna listened and smiled.

"Dad, can I come with you to South America?" Brenna asked. "It's during the summer, just for a few months."  
Bruce looked at her sadly.

"I'm afraid you can't. It's…..dangerous."

"You do it," Brenna said.

"Yes, but I'm an adult. If you died…"

"And if you died, I'd have nothing. I don't have Mom, remember? I don't even remember her." Brenna's bottom lip trembled a tiny bit. Bruce bit his own lip.

"I can't take you. Maybe when you're older. I'll come back for another visit soon, okay?"  
The next day, he said goodbye.

Jennifer looked at him. "She doesn't know, does she?"

"I don't think so. She can't know."

"What if she…..you know."

"I can't take the risk, and I can't hurt her. Goodbye, Jen."

He kissed Brenna's forehead and left them. Brenna locked herself in her room and cried. Bruce sat on the plane and he cried too.

Brenna vowed to see him soon. She wanted to become a regular part of her father's life, and he in hers.

They continued to write, and as her letters became more articulate, it occurred to him that his daughter was becoming a teenager, and a very intelligent one at that. She was excelling in Math and Science, and told her father in the letters that she intended on being a scientist when she grew up. She loved intellectual challenge, and complained of intense boredom several times. She was always polite, and her words veiled a hope that was held out, of joining him in South America. He hated having to keep her safe by staying away. He hated the Other Guy. There had been another incident a few months ago; he had to keep his distance.

**THINGS WILL GET MORE HAPPY SOON I PROMISE.**


	3. Chapter 3

When she was thirteen, her life changed forever. At school, she was "The Scientist," quiet, never really bothering anybody. Her teachers had said she was: "Stimulated by the conceptual."

Whatever that meant.

She was the object of teasing, everyone knew that she had never known her mother and her father was gone all the time. Add the fact that she was "a nerd" and a "teacher's pet", and she was in a lot of trouble. She'd usually just shove her glasses up her nose and keep going. But on the way home from school in the spring, April 19, Friday, when one of the girls from her class, a "Pop" shoved her forward.

"Move it, slowpoke," the girl said irritably. Brenna sighed. It was Louise. Brenna walked a bit faster. "Banner!" Louise sang. "I know something you don't."

_Unlikely, _Brenna thought.

"Your Dad's off dating another woman," she said. "That's why he hasn't come back, and why you can't go down there."

"That's not true, Louise. He's down there being a doctor."

"Part of the time, anyway," Louise teased. She shook her blonde hair out of her eyes. "They'll probably get married." Brenna shoved her hands in her pockets. "And have another kid." Brenna kicked a rock. "I hope it'd be a girl." Brenna stopped and wheeled. "She'd be a lot prettier and smarter and all than you are, I bet." Brenna glared, brown eyes flashed green.

"**_Be quiet,_**" Brenna hissed. "**_You know nothing._**"

"I know more than you," Louise crossed her arms and glared. "So that must mean you're dumber than a rock."

Anger shot through Brenna. _Why do I always have to be picked on? What did I do to them? Why won't Dad let me go down there? He's not dating someone else, he can't. He'd tell me about it._ Doubts surged through her as her eyes faded from brown to green and back. Louise looked down at her with mock pity, and she wondered what it'd be like to crush her skull. _Smash puny girl. _Horrified at her thoughts, she turned and kept walking. A few meters away, she was grabbed and dragged into an alley. There was a hand over her mouth. She bit it.

"Ow! Now, missie, are you gonna fight?" the man asked. He was six feet tall, roughly, and had a mask on. "Now, just give me your purse." He cocked a gun behind her. Brenna tried to hide the trembling.

"Is this where this city has come to? People just robbing unsuspecting teenagers on their way home from school?" Brenna's voice shook as she moved away slightly and opened her purse.

"I said give it to me," the man said threateningly. Brenna grabbed something from it. "Hey, now, put that back," the man warned. Brenna backed up a step when the man shot. Pain and white-hot fury shot through her and her eyes turned bright green. Brenna was pushed to the back of her own mind as something else took over. She grew to an even eight feet, bright green, muscular, ripping her clothes and destroying her shoes and socks. The creature roared and the man screamed. **_Puny man, kill it,_** the whatever-it-was thought.

_NO! _Brenna thought.

The creature picked him up and flung him out of the alley to goodness knows where, and then walked out herself. She started running, with Brenna's direction, towards home.

When she arrived she shrank back into Brenna, in a mass of hysterical sobs in the front lawn.

That is where her aunt Jennifer found her.

**Sorry if that was melodramatic.**

**Oh well.**

**Read and Review please!**


	4. Chapter 4

Jennifer was just coming up the walk when she saw her.

Brenna sat on the front porch, holding her shredded shirt and pants up, with a red nose, and puffy red eyes.

She looked…..almost empty. As if the soul had been drained out of her, leaving the shell.

Brenna raised her eyes to meet Jennifer's, brown eyes looking dull, but with the shine of tears.

Her glasses were dangling from her hand.

Jennifer was amazed she had them still. It did not take long at all for her to gather what had happened.

"Oh, no," she whispered. She sank down next to Brenna on the porch. "Are you alright?"

"No. What happened. Why did I…..what did I do? I don't remember much….anger…noise. So much noise and pain."

Jennifer pressed her lips together.

"I can tell you what happened, but after you come inside and get changed, and sit down with a cup of tea. Got it?"

Brenna nodded slowly. She stood up and headed into the house. She climbed the stairs slowly, instead of pounding up as was her wont.

She was exhausted.

Jennifer followed her inside, and sat at the table with a pen and a piece of paper. An envelope lay next to her awaiting use.

_Bruce-_

_Brenna has…changed. She hulked. She is only thirteen, she has no idea what happened, and she's lonely and scared. She doesn't know why she did it, and I need you here to help deal with the situation. See if you can get up here, now._

_You remember General Ross? If he finds out about this, he'll be taking Brenna instead of you._

_Come help your daughter, please._

_-Jennifer_

**_~How many times can you look me in the eye~_**

Brenna came down the stairs with a new change of clothes, and sat at the table. Jennifer had a mug of Chamomile Tea at her place. She picked it up and sipped it. She looked up at Jennifer across the table and set her tea down.

"What happened?"

Jennifer sighed. "Your father should probably help explain it. It's…the cause of a genetic mutation. Your grandfather started an experiment with the blood cells, experimented on himself. When your father was born, he had…genetic mutations in his blood. The gamma radiation accident triggered this reaction. When his pulse rate picked up, he'd…hulk. You must have inherited it too."

"I've never been around gamma radiation," Brenna said woodenly.

"Yes you have. In the accident that triggered it in your father. It….killed your mother. The only reason you and your father survived was because of the mutation." Jennifer watched Brenna for reaction. There was none.

"Why didn't Dad tell me?" Brenna finally asked.

"He was afraid to. And he was afraid to be around you. Afraid you might get hurt."

Brenna nodded. She finished her tea and climbed up the stairs. She opened her door and walked into her room and closed the door behind her. She threw herself across her bed and cried. Not the loud noisy wailing, but the silent sobs that hurt and make your shoulders shake because you can't make any noise but you hurt SO MUCH inside.

She cried herself to sleep, and when Jennifer opened the door later and saw the girl spread out across the bed she'd had for years, too tall to lay on the bed sideways, she felt tears come to her eyes.

She sent the letter she had written and went to bed herself.

**There we go! ANOTHER CHAPTER.**

**Please review, lovely people!**


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